I get the impression that St. Louis might be buyers in the off-season with those picks, I would be somewhat surprised if they used all of them to draft players.

Could be wrong, but it seems more like they were going retool rather than rebuild.

They’d send one of their lower 1sts for Kupari

Listen, in my dual-GM-capacity I'd be HAPPY to give them a player or two instead of picks, because the Kings' needs are so specific. It's unfortunate that the Kings' surpluses (LW and RD) are redundant to St. Louis' needs.

Of course, an exchange like this is much better situated for the actual Draft Day, because it depends upon the availability of the pool of 5 or 6 players I have in mind for the Kings at the time the pick comes up. If two or three of the prospects I like are still on the board when the selection is to be made, I think that this type of deal might be realistic, and beneficial for both teams.

That's really tempting.

Welcome to CapFriendly!

Umm... I don't know is this will interest Army In a vacuum, the value offered is great, but I have a hard time seeing him trade down that far in this draft.





No, they absolutely would not.

II

II

Of all people, you are not someone who has a worthy opinion of anything regarding hockey. The Blues need center depth and need younger players. Kupari projects to be a 2nd line center at best and could immediately be in our bottom 6. The lower 1st will likely be 28th to 32nd and getting an actual player for it is more valuable than an 18 year old who is not guaranteed. It also makes sense if the Blues are looking to retool as opposed to rebuild. A 30th overall pick does nothing for at least 2 or 3 years and may never do anything.

Sheesh, I didn't mean to start something between Blues stalwarts. This is all very speculative until Draft Day. (See my response to my esteemed friend GiggyWithGibby above.)

"Projects to be". When? Five years ago, when he was drafted? Dude was taken 20th in a draft that is not as strong as this year's, so it could be argued that he has never been worth a late 23 1st. As for guarantees, nobody asked for one, but betting on a 18 yo who is more talented than a 23 yo disappointment seems fine by me. Of course, I do not expect Army to just draft with the picks he has anyway. But no, nobody is going to pay a 23 1st for Kupari.

You didn't. Some people just flip out if you counter their claim.

I think that you're underestimating Rasmus. He's rounding into a fine two-way centerman who is pretty good defensively and in the faceoff circle, which is why I think that he's worth the late first when you factor in the time element mentioned by @BluesFanBrian. In my opinion, he would be an excellent replacement for Ivan Barbashev. Keep an eye on him.

First of all, I like Kupari. Always have. Pretty bummed that he has struggled to develop, even if he suddenly realized that defensive forward play is a thing (which of course I also love).

But a late 23 1st is too valuable to spend on a maybe okay 3C who has already reached now or never time. That can be handled much more efficiently in a variety of ways and there's too much value into the 30's this year to screw it up. Some of these guys who fall late in the 1st are at a level normally found around 10-12-15. There will be All-Star level players taken late in the 1st this year, if not into the 2nd. If the Blues splurge a 1st on something, it will hopefully be a better something than Kupari.

Just so you’re aware, at 23, the most points Tage Thompson had in a season was 14. Beyond that…..Kupari has been getting literally less than 10 minutes per game. He’s a prime candidate for insane breakout should he get actual ice time, in exchange for a 30th overall pick that will probably never play a game for the Blues.

Heh. Now magically it's the 30th pick and the player picked will "probably never" play for the Blues and Kupari is set to be a 50 goal 100 point guy. That's now the baseline of your reality. Mmmnokaythen.

That’s not in the slightest what I said. I want you to realize that players who play less than 10 minutes per game don’t have a true chance to prove themselves. Thompson is just an example, I think Kupari has potential to be a 20 goal 50 point guy who provides solid defense. Armstrong wants to retool, not rebuild, so the odds are that whoever is drafted will get traded and never play for us. Kupari could slot in the bottom 6 now and get much more time than he does in LA. And the “lower” of our draft picks this season will be somewhere between 28 and 32 most likely. We are gunna pick around 9, 23, and 30.

With all this being said, I don’t like the move for Kupari because it’s not in a vaccum. The reality is that we are gunna draft a center at 9 (or higher if we wanna trade up) and we have been experimenting with Buch at center. But in a different situation, Kupari and a 2nd would be decent value for a 28th to 32nd overall pick. That’s just reality buddy.

Ehhhhh... where did that 2nd come from? That was never in the proposed trade idea, buddy.

And you absolutely did say "in exchange for a 30th overall pick that will probably never play a game for the Blues" verbatim. I know, coz I just copy pasted it directly from your comment. And you sure as hell implied strongly that Kupari was about to be the next Thompson level breakout. Yup. So again, you cannot suddenly sneak in extra picks and act like I responded to it, and you can't lecture someone about "reality" when you pretend you didn;t say things you totally did say and we can all see it because it's still there.z

Long story short: the Blues will not be trading a 23 1st for Kupari, and neither will anyone else.

Ohh boyyy. So if you use your eye balls and look at the trade, the Kings send their 2nd Round pick for this season. All I was saying was that if they send Kupari instead of a 2024 1st, the Blues may bite because Kupari is a prime candidate for a insane breakout. Kupari is already good defensively and could definitely have a 40 to 50 point season if he’s given real ice time with actually skilled players. All I said was that Thompson had a career high of 14 points when he was 23. If you want an example that I could see in Kupari, a guy like Eeli Tolvanen has had an amazing breakout since leaving Nashville. He’s on a 30 goal 63 point pace with Seattle since he got there after never posting higher than 11 goals and 23 points. And my point stands, whoever the Blues would draft at 30th will probably never play for us. Finally, this draft is not deeper across the board, you realize that, right? The top 10 to 15 are all really good and the rest are pretty average for any draft. The last draft that was of this level (2015) saw Nick Merkley go 30th overall, and he’s in the KHL now after playing exactly 1 game for the Coyotes.

Lemme just stop you right there. That is NOT what you said. And AGAIN, anyone can scroll up and see you did not say that.

Quoting: BluesfanBrian
They’d send one of their lower 1sts for Kupari

I have no idea why you'd think anyone would fall for this switcheroo. But whatever.

It’s bc any normal person would have assumed that what’s in the original trade would remain in the trade unless otherwise said but you are not a normal person. You’re the type that thinks Colton Parayko is good. Which immediately makes anything you say tinted.

What are you babbling about now? Uhh nooo, nobody would do that because you didbsay otherwise. Man, some people just don't know to quit when they are miles behind. Have a Dunning Kruger day, comic relief.